


say a prayer

by warriorsandaces



Category: Boondock Saints (Movies), The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-01
Updated: 2015-04-01
Packaged: 2018-03-20 19:12:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3661719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warriorsandaces/pseuds/warriorsandaces
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They're trying to find somewhere to hole up for the night where they don't have to be on constant watch for fucking zombies when they spot the shack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	say a prayer

**Author's Note:**

> TRY TO LOOK PAST MY HORRIBLENESS AT WRTING ACCENTS  
> I basically just guessed for how to write their accent.

They're trying to find somewhere to hole up for the night where they don't have to be on constant watch for fucking zombies when they spot the shack. It looks like it's barely standing, the wood dark with water damage and age, but the door's opened a crack and they're apartment back in Boston was probably worse than this even before the fucking apocalypse so they'll take what they can get.

Connor's usual excuse of, "I came out first so shut yer trap," has Murphy rolling his eyes and huffing.

"Why don'cha watch my fuckin' ass fer once and let me go first?" he mumbles, shoving his twin hard enough for him to almost fall on his ass before he takes out his gun and cocks it.

Once Connor's regained his balance he says, just loud enough for Murphy to hear him, "I'm gonna shoot yer fuckin' ass, ya prick," but follows his lead, anyway. Murphy's capable, even though he doesn't plan before he acts most of the time, and Connor knows this, but sometimes it's hard for him not to act like the big brother and do everything he can to protect Murphy.

He'd always been the stronger of the two when they were growing up while Murphy was always easier to get a rise out of. They weren't bullied when they were little, not once the other kids figured out that if you mess with one twin the other was never far behind, but Murphy still was easy to rile and would get in fights constantly. Connor would always jump in, either pulling Murphy off some kid to keep him from beating his face in or joining to keep Murphy from getting himself beat.

Their ma told Connor one night while Murphy was sleeping that he had to protect his brother, keep him safe and watch over him. "That's what family does, Boy. Your da ain't here so you hafta watch over your brother," she'd said.

The door squeaks when Murphy pushes it open with his foot and they both tense. It wasn't too loud, but any undead fucks in there would've heard it, no doubt. They wait for a minute but no zombies come at them so they make their way inside. The first room they go in is empty and decrepit. There's no sign of the undead and the room doesn't look like it's been lived in for a long while, dust settled on the floor and the small table in a corner. There are crushed beer cans, empty unmarked jars, and faded wrappers from old candy bars and Slim Jims lying around the room, but nothing else.

They can hear something moving around when they get close to another door and they both share a look before Murphy slowly turns the handle and pushes the door open a crack. When nothing immediately attacks him he pushes it open enough to get inside, gun held out in front of him like he's seen in those stupid movies Connor always made him watch. This room is still dusty, trash littering the ground, but he can see muddy footprints leading in from a door that goes back outside. Murphy follows the trail, still trying not to make a sound, and sees that they go all the way to a mound of dark blankets in a corner of the room that seems to be the cause of the rustling.

He looks back at Connor and receives a nod to go ahead. The grip on his gun tightens as he moves forward, expecting there to be an undead kid in the pile if the small prints are anything to go by or maybe an animal feasting on something. He gets a hand on the blanket and takes a deep breath before he pulls it away, gun still in front of him and aimed at the bundle.

There's a little girl holding a pack of sardines staring at him with wide brown eyes. They're red-rimmed and sunken, like she hasn't slept in a long time, and there are tear tracks down her dirty face. Her hair is matted with mud and leaves, but there's a hint of red to it. Tiny hands spasm around the can of fish she was eating and she blinks once, twice, before throwing the can down and moving past Murphy's gun to throw her little arms around his middle.

"You found me!" she says, though it's muffled by his shirt. He doesn't know what to do, whether he should pat her back and tell her everything will be okay, or if he should push her away and ask where her ma is. It's such a strange thing, considering he was just pointing a gun at her head and now she's hugging him like her life depends on it and shaking like crazy.

She pulls away from him after a few minutes, once her little body stops shaking, though she keeps hold of his shirt like she's afraid he's going to leave her.

"What's goin' on? What're ya doin' here?" he asks, keeping his voice even and low so he doesn't frighten her.

Her face scrunches up, like she's about to start crying, and she says, "'m sorry, I know Rick told me to stay but I got scared! I heard the walkers coming back and I ran away." She rubs her nose and sniffles. "Are you mad at me now, Daryl?"

And, really, this is all extremely confusing. Though he understands that sometimes being a little delusional is nice, he doesn't think a zombie apocalypse is the best time for that. "Is Daryl your da?" he asks.

She looks at him like he's gone mad and bites her lips. "You're Daryl, silly. My daddy died, 'member?" He can see the sadness on her face and thinks it must've happened somewhat recently.

"'m sorry, but my name's not Daryl," he tells her. "'m Murphy and this is my brother, Connor," he tells her.

She just screws her eyes up, almost making them crossed as she looks at his face like she's trying to study him. "Okay," she purses her lips, "but you still look like Daryl and he had a brother, too, but I didn't like him because he was a meanie."

"My brother's not a meanie, ain't that right, Con?" Murphy says, smiling as he turns to look at Connor.

His brother smiles at the kid. "That's right, lil girl. Murph's the mean one, " he says with a wink.

She just watches them both for a moment before she grins, followed by her stomach gurgling loudly.

Murphy nods his head at Connor's bag and, while his brother is going through it to find the girl a snack, he figures he should at least figure some things out about her. "What's your name?"

"Sophia, and my momma's name is Carol," she says, saying more than she needed to like most of the children Murphy had talked to.

"Alright, Sophia, can you tell me where your ma is?"

She hums like she's trying to remember before she shakes her head no. "We were on the road but I got lost," she says, tongue sticking out in a gesture that seems to mean she's disappointed.

Honestly, it's better than them having set up a camp in the forest; at least the road could have markers on it, if the girl can remember them. Either way, it's too late for them to move on or leave the shack if they want to stay safe, so the questioning is done for now, just in time for Connor to come over with a bottle of water, a can of mixed fruit, and some jerky.

"Are ya hungry, lil Sophia?" his brother asks as he hands her the water bottle and pops the top off the fruit.

"I'm not little," she says with a frown that she can't quite keep on her face as she drinks some water and then grabs for the can, using her fingers to grab the bits of peaches and grapes out and swallow them down.

Murphy watches his brother with a fond smile; Connor's always been good with kids, always liked helping them and making them smile and laugh, especially when things were tough for the little ones. He touches his rosary and says a prayer for the little girl's ma and her group. He doesn't know what would've happened to Sophia if they hadn't found this shack, if she would've made it by herself long enough for her ma to find her, but he knows God is watching over them, that He brought the brothers here for this girl and he's going to do everything in his power to keep her safe and to keep that smile on her face.

Once she's done chewing some jerky she sticks her tongue out again and stares at Connor. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot," he says, taking a bite of his own jerky.

She purses her lips and scrunches her nose and Murphy has a feeling it's going to be something bad as he takes a sip of his water. "Why do you and Murphy talk funny?"

Murphy snorts, water spewing everywhere and his nose burning as he starts laughing.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote Sophia like she was a lot younger than she is in canon, like 7-8-ish instead of 12, so sorry about that!  
> I wanted to add more to this, and I might later, but I have a tendency not to finish fics over 2k and this seemed like it was decent where it stopped, so. Also, I didn't rewatch to figure out the exact layout of the building or Sophia's personality, so I get that they probably aren't very accurate.


End file.
